Some athletes travel from all over the world to participate in the various sports offered at Union. International athletes are not unheard of in collegiate sports, but how did they find out about Union — nestled in a small town like Jackson, Tenn.?
Various channels are used to recruit international athletes.
Trevor Lydic, men’s basketball assistant coach, explained that recruiting comes not only from various prep schools but also through the Internet.
“There are recruiting services that are out there for a lot of international kids,” Lydic said. “We get tons of emails from all over the world. Usually [potential athletes] connect YouTube highlights, or they give us their stats through another website.”
For the basketball team, international students from Haiti have been present for a decade or more.
“It goes back even further, since Coach Niven has been here 15 years or so —they’ve kind of had a Haitian pipeline, and he’s had at least one Haitian on our team for the last 10 or 12 years starting back in 2000,” Lydic said. “We do have a connection with the Haitian people; they
tell us about guys that may be good enough to come over here and play. They usually call us and let us know that.”
Pedro Faller, Brazilian senior business management major and basketball player, said he heard about Union through the headmaster of his high school.
“What made me come to Union was just the comforting environment and the opportunity of graduating from such a great school,” Faller said.
Kristen Andreassen, Norwegian junior sports management major and soccer player, said he found out about Union through contact with a recruiting agency.
Each country boasts of various cultural values and traditions. But how do these students adjust to the land of sweet tea and Southern accents?
Luka Periodic, junior business administration major and soccer player, describes his transition from Croatia.
“Jackson is very different from where I come from because I was raised close to a metropolitan European city, and the difference is unbelievable — almost like comparing two planets,” Perkovic said. “Even though Jackson — and Union — culture is so much different from where I come from, I still got to meet so many people that I will be friends with my whole life.”
Other students, such as Faller, see living in a small town as an opportunity to connect with people.
“I’m from a city bigger than Jackson, but I still think that living in a small city is a good chance to get to interact with people I’m around, especially at school,” Faller said. “Life here in Jackson is really different from home, especially the food!”
Though adjusting is a big part of coming to Union, the teams create bonds with each other.
“When [international students] first get here, a lot of them are a little apprehensive and it just takes time to get accustomed to things,” Lydic said. “They are never treated differently — our American players see them as ball players. Basketball is its own international language where everybody speaks it, so if you’re good enough, you automatically earn the respect from other teammates.”
To Lydic, where the students came from made no difference.
“Even though we’re all from different backgrounds and have different ways of life, the love that you have to have inside the team is going to pay off in the long run despite the differences we may have,” Lydic said.
